Macaulay Culkin is the new star of Comparethemarket.com advert

Macaulay Culkin, of Home Alone movie fame, is to be the new face of the Comparethemarket.com's infamous Meerkat advertisements.

The 35-year-old actor – who shot to global stardom as a child actor for his role as Kevin McCallister in the family film series that released its first flick in 1990 – stars alongside the now-iconic Meerkat mascots, Aleksandr and Sergei.

The commercial sees the fair-haired star embark on a road trip which leads the trio to a funfair and the cinema, as Culkin replaces the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicole Kidman as the new celebrity face of comparethemarket.com.

The crux of the advert's message involves Aleksandr using his 2 for 1 Meerkat Movies ticket, and it will premiere on Friday (8 July) during the Coronation Street ad break.

Poking fun at the less-than-relevant Culkin, Aleksandr Orlov says: "During road trip across Americas, Sergei and I decide to have family day out. Only trouble was, we don't have a family.

"So we decide to invite hottest Hollywoods child actor of the moment. Together we have great day at fun fair and use meerkat movies to go to the cinema. It was magicals," he added.

Looking a stark contrast to his angelic look that helped make him famous as a youth, Culkin sports his now-signature scruffy scraped back hair and a layer of stubble – so we're expecting to see a pair of very confused meerkats.